Oral care materials, such as toothpaste, are generally packaged in tubes or sachets. The advantage of a tube is that it is reclosable, offers prolonged shelf-life, protects the integrity of the toothpaste itself (e.g., acts as a barrier to flavors, water and other actives in toothpaste), provides a good surface for graphics, and is easy to dispense through the nozzle. Over the years, progress has been made to increase the efficiency of the tube making process and down gauge the materials. All these efforts have decreased the cost of tubes. However, even with these decreased costs, the price point achievable using tubes to package toothpaste is still too costly for low income consumers in emerging markets.
To achieve a price point acceptable to such consumers, it is believed that the cost of the tube package has to decrease stepwise, not incrementally. It is further believed that the modification of current tube or reclosable sachets will not be sufficient because the largest cost component of the current tube or reclosable sachets (with fitments) is the high cost due to the complicated processes involved in making these packages.
For example, the tube making process begins with the formation of a first laminate into a tube body. Separately, a shoulder and cap assembly is formed. Lastly, the tube body and shoulder and cap assembly are coupled together. The tube is then filled and sealed. The process is essentially the same for forming reclosable sachets. First, the fitment is made. Then the sachet is formed. The fitment and sachet are then assembled, filled and sealed.
Existing tube and sachet formation technology is believed to be prohibitive of suitable cost reduction for toothpaste (and other fluidic products) in emerging markets. A need exists for a new package format for toothpaste. To dramatically decrease the cost, the new format or the new process needs to be simplified.